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Citadel Securities made $3.3B in three months. How much of that profit will its employees pocket? People at Citadel Securities have a new number to contemplate before bonus season: $3.3 billion. That was the market maker's net income in the second quarter of 2026, up more than 250 percent from a year earlier. Trading revenue more than tripled to a record $7.3 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing someone familiar with the private results. Citadel Securities declined to comment. Revenue does not pass directly into employees' pockets. Still, 2026 has already supplied ample material for some ambitious bonus expectations. Six months, $5.2B of profit. Citadel Securities generated approximately $4.3 billion of revenue and $1.9 billion of net income in the first quarter, according to figures Bloomberg published in May. Add the two quarters together, and the firm has produced $11.6 billion of revenue and $5.2 billion of net income in six months (H1 2026). For comparison, Citadel Securities generated $12.2 billion of revenue and $5.4 billion of net income during the whole of 2025, according to The New Yorker. It has therefore come close to matching last year's totals in half the time. Retail traders returned at the right time. Record US equity and options volumes supplied the opportunity. Retail participation remained elevated through May and June, and Citadel Securities handles more than one-third of US retail stock trades. The firm is particularly well placed when more orders pass through the market, and prices move sharply. This quarter provided plenty of both. Jane Street and Hudson River Trading have also reported unusually large revenues this year, suggesting the benefits were not confined to Citadel Securities. However, Citadel Securities is no longer relying solely on electronic retail flow. It has also been building a high-touch equities business to compete for the larger institutional trades traditionally handled by banks. President Jim Esposito said on 17 August that the new operation had "executed hundreds of block trades over the past few months," while adding that the firm had also expanded its "relationships with clients, including some of the world's leading venture capital and private equity firms." Citadel Securities has not disclosed how much revenue the desk generated. Its inclusion in Esposito's client letter nevertheless suggests that the firm considers the early results worth advertising. Good results do not mean indiscriminate hiring. Candidates should not mistake a record quarter for a universally open door. Electronic market makers are built to increase trading volumes without expanding headcount at the same rate. More revenue can produce larger rewards for existing teams just as readily as it creates new jobs. Where Citadel Securities does hire, the clearest business case is likely to involve quantitative research, engineering, risk management or high-touch traders and salespeople with valuable client relationships. A generalist flow trader without an additional technical or commercial advantage is less obviously required. Banks continue to generate respectable trading revenues of their own. However, the growth of Citadel Securities, Jane Street and Hudson River Trading shows how much activity is now concentrated among firms combining technology, capital and direct access to order flow. That concentration is good for people already working at the winners. It is less helpful to everyone hoping that record industry revenues will produce a broad hiring boom. The other Citadel has been busy too. Citadel Securities is separate from Citadel, Ken Griffin's hedge fund. The latter has nevertheless demonstrated its own capacity to move large positions this summer. As Disruption Banking reported here, Citadel acquired a material portion of Situational Awareness' public-equity portfolio in late July. Griffin subsequently told investors that the firm completed nearly 100 block trades worth more than $4 billion while reducing the associated risk. None of that activity forms part of Citadel Securities' $7.3 billion revenue figure. It does show how both Griffin businesses can deploy technology, capital and market relationships when an unusually large opportunity appears. The bonus pool question: how much of Citadel Securities' $3.3B profit will its employees pocket? Retail flows can reverse quickly. High-touch relationships should provide a less volatile source of business, although they take longer to establish and require different people. Citadel Securities does not publish its compensation pool, so outsiders cannot know how much of this year's profit will reach employees. There is little doubt that the firm has generated enough money to pay well. The more interesting questions are how much it will distribute and who will receive the largest share. The traders, quants, engineers and salespeople most directly responsible for the firm's growth will presumably have the strongest arguments. Anyone hoping that the record quarter will make Citadel Securities less selective may be disappointed. The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organisations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is most definitely not financial advice.

INVESTOR ALERT: Pomerantz law Firm reminds investors with losses on their investment in Genius group limited of class action lawsuit and upcoming deadlines - GNS. Aug 27, 2026, 16:04 ET NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of investors in Genius securities, alleging violations of the federal securities laws by Citadel Securities LLC ("Citadel") and Virtu Americas LLC ("Virtu" and, together with Citadel, the "Defendants"). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. The class action concerns whether the Defendants and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. You have until August 28, 2026, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class if you purchased or otherwise acquired Genius securities during the Class Period. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants engaged in a manipulative and illegal trading practice known as "spoofing," which involves submitting and then cancelling buy or sell orders without any genuine intent to execute them. The purpose of these "baiting orders" was to mislead other market participants about the true level of supply and demand for Genius securities, or about the stock's price volatility, thereby influencing the market price of Genius to benefit Defendants' own trading positions. The alleged manipulation also increased investors' transaction costs by inflating the bid-ask spread for Genius stock. Defendants entered thousands of these baiting orders on U.S. stock exchanges to create the false impression that Genius's stock price reflected genuine supply-and-demand and volatility dynamics, while simultaneously profiting by absorbing and reselling their customers' order flow at prices favorable to Defendants. The complaint further alleges that throughout the Class Period, sharp declines in Genius's stock price consistently coincided with substantial spikes in Defendants' spoofing activity. For example, during the week of February 10, 2025, Defendants built significant short positions in Genius stock and reaped substantial trading profits: Citadel traded more than 23 million shares of Genius off-exchange, accounting for nearly half of all off-exchange trading in the stock, while Virtu traded nearly 11 million shares, accounting for more than 20% of all off-exchange trading. Together, Defendants comprised nearly 70% of all off-exchange trading in Genius stock that week, as short volume surged from a low of 53% to more than 61%. As a result, Genius's stock price decline by 22% despite the absence of any new material, company-specific news. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. SOURCE Pomerantz LLP